Crunchy or Christian?

Lately I've been struck by the notion of "Crunchier Than Thou." My focus is so much on what is "crunchy" that thinking of what is Godly can sometimes come second. I've been thinking, when people look at my family, do they see a Christian home or a crunchy-crazed family?

I know it boils down to the fact that what goes in is what comes out. What I've been reading and surrounding myself with are articles and discussions and friends who think similarly as me (nothing wrong with that) and I'm constantly putting into my head new "crunchy" ideas and practices for home remedies, methods of child-rearing, etc. Again, none of those things are wrong, and I enjoy living a healthy, natural life, but I want my focus to be more geared toward raising a Godly family than a natural one. (Though, in a way, I do think they go hand in hand, to some extent.)

When I put sunscreen on my child, for example, I don't like how I instantly fear losing my "crunchy" status. That being said, I do think that education plays an important role. Do I feel a gut feeling of doing something "wrong" when I use sunscreen because of the crunchiness that's been ingrained in me or because of the reality of putting potentially harmful chemicals and toxins on my son's skin? But really, why am I making the decisions that I do? Have I approached them prayerfully? Do I feel the Lord prompting me in a certain direction as I make parenting decisions? Or do I just think "What would Crunchy do?" I have to align my priorities in order to be the person I want to be.

We've moved beyond tree-hugging to tree-kissing! ;)

The bottom line is that my desire is to put more effort into focusing on Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8). And I don't doubt that crunchy things fall in there somewhere.